Paul Ashland I was born in 1924 in northern Michigan of African-American parents. My older sister had lung cancer when she was in her 60s, but she was a smoker, so we weren’t surprised.
0-19 years We had a normal childhood: My father worked, and my mother stayed home to watch the kids. We ate well—my father especially loved steak and baked potatoes for dinner—but I wasn’t overweight because I was active in sports. I started chewing a little when I was 18 (I also started drinking a little—all the guys did it).	· 20-39 years After I finished high school, I got a good job with a trucking company and started making long-distance hauls with a partner. I was on the road a lot, so I didn’t really develop any hobbies or outside interests. We traveled five days out of seven, and slept and ate on the road. Chewing helped me keep awake on long hauls.
40-59 years By the time I was in my mid-40s, I started gaining weight. When I developed headaches, I went to the doctor to see what was wrong. He said I had high blood pressure, but said I could control it with diet if I tried to. I lost some weight on the diet he prescribed, and the headaches went away. I’m usually pretty good about sticking to the diet, though I do like a drink or two after a long day on the road.	60+ years I retired when I was 65. Retirement was hard on me: I was used to traveling and didn’t really have friends except for other truckers. To ease my loneliness, I hung out at the terminal and helped load and unload the trucks just for the heck of it. When I was about 69, I noticed soreness in my mouth and saw something that looked like a large canker sore. I figured it would go away. It didn’t. Then I noticed a lump underneath it. It was pretty sore, so I decided to see a doctor. She took a biopsy and found that I had throat cancer. The surgery was tough, and I don’t look the same. I don’t go out much now, even to the docks. My mouth is dry and sore all the time from radiation. Between that and the chemotherapy, I really can’t eat much and don’t taste what I do eat. I continue to lose weight and feel bad most of the time. I really miss seeing the guys from the docks. Paul died at age 71 of cancer. Twelve of his buddies from the trucking company attended his funeral.